


Elf-Nurse

by firefly124



Series: 2020 AdventDrabbles [13]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: AU in which 15x19 made sense and 15x20 didn't happen, Community: adventdrabbles, Gen, Wayward Sisters, also Jack got rid of Chuck's plagues, but nobody in the mundane world knows about that
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-23
Updated: 2020-12-23
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:07:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28254399
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/firefly124/pseuds/firefly124
Summary: Alex and Bobby get an encore, but this time is a little different.
Series: 2020 AdventDrabbles [13]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050380





	Elf-Nurse

**Author's Note:**

> Written to the prompt [Zoom visits with Santa](https://imgur.com/a/mrdj6I0) for the [AdventDrabbles community on Dreamwidth](https://adventdrabbles.dreamwidth.org/).

Alex should’ve realized she’d be reaching out to Bobby again for help sooner than later. Some of the kids who were inpatient at the hospital had seen the news segment about flu shots and wanted Santa to come see them too. The nurses on the pediatric floor currently wanted to tear her apart for planting this idea in their heads, even if it really wasn’t her fault.

Considering the kids couldn’t even have visitors (thank you for that, Chuck), it seemed like the least Alex could do to set that up. Bobby grumbled plenty, as she’d expected, but he also gave in pretty quickly. He was still up in Sioux Falls, but considering it was all going to be on Zoom anyway, that didn’t matter. 

Getting another costume had been a pain in the neck she hadn’t planned on, but Patience had gone with her to the store and had even gotten supplies to rig up a background that made it look like Alex was up at the North Pole instead of a bunker in Kansas. A bunker with really amazing WiFi, it had to be said.

“Don’t worry, Bobby,” she said for the umpteenth time. “I know what I’m doing. I’ll just send you one kid at a time. Just make sure not to promise anything they may not get.”

“I’mma tell them I have to check with their doctors what they can have while they’re in the hospital,” he said. “I’m also takin’ notes so you can make sure the parents find out what they want. Maybe they can get whatever it is for a comin’ home gift.”

“I knew you were just a big teddy bear.” Alex grinned and moved Bobby into “Santa’s office” while he grumbled about that.

There were ten kids, total, in Sioux Falls General this Christmas Eve. Alex found herself having to come up with cheerful babble with most of them as they waited their turns to see Santa. They were so eager to talk to someone other than their nurses and patient care assistants. So eager to talk to someone who wasn’t wearing a mask.

“Don’t you have to wear a mask up there?” Sylvia asked. “Or, is it too cold up there for the by-russes?”

“I mean, it is pretty cold up here,” Alex agreed. “But mostly it’s that I’m the only one in the room right now. We’ve still got to be careful. We elves want to spread Christmas cheer, not viruses.”

“I bet they won’t even let Santa come in the hospital,” Dwayne said with a pout. 

“Santa’s going to be able to drop some things off at the hospital,” Alex said, following the official script her boss had dictated to her. “Just not, you know, everything. If it’s not safe to be in the hospital, or wouldn’t be safe for you while you’re sick, then it might have to wait. But you can tell Santa anything that you want, even if maybe he can’t bring it to the hospital right away.”

“How can you be an elf and a nurse?”

“What, elves can’t be nurses?” Alex counted her blessings that she didn’t get rotated to pediatrics often. That could get awkward.

Once they’d all had their turns, and the last kid had logged off, Bobby came back into the main room. His eyes were suspiciously shiny.

“How you doing?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” he said, predictably enough. “That was tough, though. You know the one thing they all wanted, right?”

What any kid in the hospital on Christmas Eve would want: to go home.

“You gave them one thing they wanted,” Alex said. “Email me that list, and I’ll make sure it gets where it needs to go. Probably too late for tonight, but like you said, maybe not for welcome home gifts.”

“I’m not sure about whether anybody’s getting a pony, even then,” Bobby said with a snort. “Told ‘em I’d have to check with their parents about that one. Gotta be sure the pony will have enough space to run around and everything, animals are a responsibility, all that stuff.”

“You’re a natural.” 

“You are too, kid. You should maybe think about doing more stuff with kids. Really seems to light you up.”

“Maybe,” Alex agreed. Just spending an hour with sick kids had been draining, as much as she’d loved it. “We’ll see.”

After they’d both logged off, she took her time disassembling the background and getting out of her costume. What if she could find a way to work with kids that didn’t mean only seeing them sick enough to be in the hospital? She had really enjoyed both of the things she’d done with Bobby.

“You done?” Patience asked, poking her head in the door. “Dean made burgers for lunch.”

Alex’s stomach rumbled at that. It had been a while since breakfast. Well, coffee.

“Yeah, I’ll be right out.”

“You’ve really got this all figured out,” Patience said. “Pulling off something like that from the middle of a magical bunker.”

“I mean, they thought I was at the North Pole,” Alex said. “Kind of the same thing.”

“Still.” Patience shrugged. “The whole ‘we help in our own way’ thing. Kinda nice to see that it’s possible.”

“Still figuring it out,” Alex said. “This was fun, but I don’t think elf-nurse is exactly a full-time job.”

Patience rolled her eyes. “C’mon. Burgers.”

As they headed out of Alex’s room, she found herself looking back at her laptop. Maybe she would look a little more into other stuff she could do. Probably not elf-nurse. But something with kids.

“If you don’t hurry up, I’m eating yours!” Patience called back to her.

Alex rolled her eyes and shut the door.


End file.
